The 10-day police search involving hundreds of officers scouring about 40 square miles and diving dozens of retention ponds and lakes to find 21-month-old Lonzie Barton is being drastically scaled back as the chances of finding the child alive appear grim, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff Mike Williams spoke publicly for the first time Sunday at Baker Skinner Park at the last scheduled daily noon update on the search’s progress. Williams had been on a planned family cruise to the Virgin Islands leaving early in the morning the day the child went missing.

Local environmentalists as well as residents are concerned about last month's discovery that large coquina boulders and rocks were being removed illegally from the coastal Marineland area. The coquina rocks and boulders serve as natural protection from beach erosion.